I am a junior this year and I am currently taking the highest level of math my school has (AP Calc BC). I was trying to figure out a way to dual enroll or take an online course for the next level of calculus, but my school said no. It wasn’t because of my academic ability (4.0UWGPA/35ACT) but because they couldn’t find a program where I could do that. There is a community college, a private liberal arts college, and a local branch of a state university in my ~200,000 person city, but we can’t dual enroll with them unless it’s a class taught at my school. Does anyone know of a way I can keep up with my calculus and learn more? I’m thinking of khan academy, but I didn’t know if there were any better free or relatively low cost options. It doesn’t have to be for credit. I’m planning to be either pre-med bio or astronomy & physics/astrophysics, so I really don’t want to forget the calculus that I learned over the course of the year and I would love to learn more. I’ll be in AP statistics next year because it is the only math class left, so at least I’ll have some math. It’s still not calculus though, which I genuinely loved learning about. Weird, I know, but I did.
Thanks!
Also-- I didn’t know what forum/topic to post this to so if I need to move it, let me know.
MIT has “open courseware” classes that have varying levels of material from MIT classes. Some have just lectures, some have lectures and problems sets, some have just problem sets. That might be a good place to start looking for higher level math classes. (If you did well in Calc BC, you should start with the 1802 class. A bit of it will be review, but it is covered at a pretty high level, so I think you would get something out.)
You could also check edx classes to see if there are any math classes that would be a good fit for you.
You could also check with the community college yourself. Our community colleges allow students 16 years or older to enroll in classes directly, not as dual enrollment classes. I’m not sure if it must to be for non-credit, or if you can do it for credit. But even auditing (taking not for credit or a grade) a higher level math class would be a way to keep the material fresh in your mind, and learn some new things.
Thank you! Shortly after posting this, I found the MIT ones but there were so many I didn’t know where to start. Thank you!
Most colleges will allow a high school student to take one class a semester at the college for free.
Contact the private liberal arts college and the local 4 yr public state college yourself. First look online to see if they offer multivariable calculus or another math class that is the appropriate next class in the math sequence after two semesters of college calculus, and see if there is a section that meets in the late afternoon or early evening. Then speak with the registrar’s office and ask if they will allow a high school student who has outstripped the high school’s math offerings to enroll in that class, for free or just for the admin fees. If you get a no from the registrar, contact the math department, the dean’s office, anyone else you can think of. Once you have gotten the college to agree in theory, then speak with your advisor. You don’t dual enroll - you won’t get high school credit for the math class, but that doesn’t matter. You’ll get a college transcript for it from the college. I’m sure that you have more than enough credits to be graduated, and don’t need the college calc class for high school credit.
BTW, you can do this at more than one college, often, if you want to take a class at each of the schools near you.
I went to MIT a couple of decades ago. In high school, I did Calc BC, differential equations, and linear algebra. When I got to college, I could only skip the first class (18.01). Even though 18.02 had some review, I learned a lot from it, so hopefully you will, too!
A couple things about the way MIT classes are numbered: the number to the left of the “.” is the department. 18 is the math department. The numbers after the period are roughly in order of difficulty. So 18.01 is easier/lower level than 18.02, which is lower than 18.03 (differential equations). “Extra numbers“ after the first two are often an indicator of a more challenging variation of the course. So, 18.022 is a theoretical version of multivariable calculus, and often considered a little higher level than 18.02.
You could show up at your local college, and ask the prof that you will just audit the class if you can fit that into the schedule. As long as they don’t have to grade homework or exams, they may not mind.
You can take a college course. Even if it is not officially dual enrollment (and therefore won’t count for high school graduation requirements, though you probably are well beyond that in math), it will count for applying to colleges (you have to report it separately and send the college transcript as well as the high school transcript). Taking a college course at a college is also likely better because it gives you a taste of real college and how it differs from high school.
However, scheduling is often a problem due to different time slots and commuting between the high school and college. There are cases where a high school is located adjacent to a community college, but if you are not lucky to have that, commuting can be an issue.
After calculus BC, a physics major will typically want to take multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations. A biology major or pre-med (which can be done with a major in physics or most other majors, not just biology) will typically not need more advanced math, unless taking physics for physics majors instead of physics for biology majors. However, a biology major or pre-med may want to consider calculus based statistics at a more advanced level than typical introductory statistics or AP statistics. Not all medical schools accept AP credit for pre-med requirements, although not all require calculus either. But taking a college multivariable calculus course should count as calculus for pre-med requirements. Note that college courses taken while in high school and their grades will be included in medical school applications, so do your best to earn acceptable-for-medical-school (i.e. A) grades in them.
Thanks! The community college is not technically in my city but in a neighboring town and 20-30 minutes from my house/15 from my school. The local branch of the college is close and the liberal arts college is very close to my school and house. Would I go after school to the actual college? Even though a bio major would not require a lot of math, I like math a lot so far and would probably take it as electives or something. It’s why I’m considering a more physics-based major. Do you know if it would be better/cheaper/logistically easier to do the local branch of the state school, community college, or small (tiny—900something) lac? Or if it depends on the individual schools I can email them
Costs and registration logistics for a high school student taking a course at the college obviously differ between the colleges, so you need to check their web sites and/or contact them directly. Obviously, you want to check each college’s course schedule to see if the courses of interest are offered at times that you can get to them. Looks like you know the commuting distances to factor into the decision.
Yes, you can major in physics or math and add the additional pre-med courses to your schedule in college.
Our experience was that the local state college allowed our kids to take one high school class a semester for free, and the local private college did the same, although they did require that we pay a relatively small registration fee.
Call the registrar’s office at each of the schools and ask if they already have a program that allows this (they probably do), and if not, ask to speak to someone who might be able to approve it.
You could also read a book on calculus. My first encounter with calculus was by reading Prof. Tom Apostol’s book on calculus. There’re also other well-written books on calculus with different levels of rigor to suit students of different backgrounds.
@elise123 if you are feeling adventurous, you can work through calculus by Spivak. https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Michael-Spivak/dp/0521867444/ref=sr_1_4?crid=36U6T4DJ9RPYS&keywords=calculus+spivak&qid=1677333549&sprefix=calculus+spivak%2Caps%2C439&sr=8-4&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.18ed3cb5-28d5-4975-8bc7-93deae8f9840
This thread is from a long time ago, but I found a way to do it! The local branch of the state flagship has a program. It’s not dual enrollment (I don’t need the extra math anyway); it’s a class at the college after school and only $150 instead of full price for a college course. My question now is, is that a bad idea? My schedule for my junior year was piano (easy), ap calc bc, ap french, ap bio, ap us history, ap english lang, and PE (required). I kept straight As, although it was a struggle sometimes and it was very stressful. However, my schedule this year should be way easier: AP physics (hard), piano (easy), AP Gov (easier than APUSH), AP lit (easier than lang because the lang teacher at my school is very hard), AP stats (easier than calc) and a 2-hour off-campus biology research program. I feel like I can do it and I really like calculus. A close friend of mine says I shouldn’t because I was already very stressed out and complaining about being too busy last year without a college class, and I’ll have college applications to worry about this year on top of everything else. I do sometimes have a problem with saying yes to too many things and then being overwhelmed, and I don’t want to do that and get a B in any of my classes this year. What are your thoughts? I’m also worried about this year’s schedule being too easy compared to last year and looking like I’m slacking off.
What are your interests outside the classroom and will you have time to devote to them if you take a college course? You aren’t just a college prep machine- you need time for friends, seeing family, a job? volunteer work? helping your parents by getting dinner ready when they’re having a stressful week? The question isn’t can you fit this all in- the question is- at what cost?
I do mock trial which will start in late November or December. I play the piano and will have to practice that, but I managed it last year. I volunteered at my church twice a month last year, but I’m not sure if I’ll do it again. I’ve been trying to do free piano lessons for children who can’t afford it for like 2 years but I haven’t found an organization to do it through where it works. I’m still trying, but I’m about to give up on it. I do teach a few (paid) piano lessons each week. I think the class will be a once or maybe twice a week class, and my other classes should give me less homework than last year, so I think it will balance out or be slightly more work, but not a lot. I don’t know.
If you were stressed this past year, why not consciously decide to do LESS this year, but enjoy it more? You’ve taken all the math your HS provides, so that’s good enough for every college in America, and at some point this year you need to write essays, scholarship essays and interviews (if that’s your plan), etc. Sounds like a lot to me… it’s ok to create breathing room in your schedule!
If you want to continue with math, and can manage it, I say go for it.